Chapter 27: Human

Pairings: Naru/Sasu...duh.

Rating: M- NC-17

Disclaimer: I do not own the sheer genius of "Naruto", Shippuden or other. The honours go to Masashi Kishimoto and his genius (but complete stupid a**) brain that created this masterpiece.

Summary: Remember that summer camp you went to; that quaint place out in the woods, by a lake, sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories and eating s'mores? Well this summer school sure as hell isn't that. Three months, Sasuke, teenage delinquents, illegal alcohol, prescription drugs, annoying shrinks, escape plans, a shitzu from hell, and new relationships; welcome to camp.

A/N: S'uke I love you to my heart, but you have to stop acting like a damn robot. You're human... flesh and blood, accept it; damn.

A/N2: Kind of a short chapter, but poignant. It needed to be done. -not apologetic-

(*)(*)(*)

"This just came for you."

Sasuke went still before accepting the package and nodding his thanks. For a long moment he stared at the brown wrapped box wondering what it contained. There was no return address so clearly it was the mysterious stalker.

Sasuke carefully unwrapped the box, each fold of the dull brown wrapping unfolded with clinical care. The box was a Chinese puzzle box, a very intricate puzzle box; looking carefully hand crafted with a painfully detailed roaring, be-fanged dragon carved into the lid wrapped around a yin-yang symbol.

Searching around for the key he found, on the back a set of small wooden squares that looked like moveable type; each one marked with a black mark; some curved.

With each shift Sasuke went tenser and tenser with each match. He went completely rigid when the whole thing was just one step from complete. The whole thing was the outline of the Uchiha fan symbol.

Christ.

How the hell could this... maniac have an ancient relic of the Uchiha dynasty without it being in the family's vaults?

Pushing the last key to complete the 'fan' symbol a nearly invisible slot popped open. Lying at the bottom was...a...a...Sasuke went faint.

His vision went extremely dark and his breathing kicked up into extreme hyperventilation. Desperately he grabbed at the desk's surface to steady himself and to have something solid he could concentrate on and process instead of the horrifying object in the box.

This was im- fucking- possible.

(*)(*)(*)

Everything in him went artic. A bio-bomb could've exploded mere inches away from him and he was so numb that he wouldn't have felt a damn thing.

He stared at the object in the bottom of the box like it had just reached up, buried a hand into his chest and ripped out his beating and bloody heart.

In one simple move the concrete barricade he had built up in his mind for years, the one he had placed between his mind and his emotions, the one he had counted on to protect him from things just like this; had just been pulverized to dust.

Something... something strange was happening in his body. Some alien pain coiled in his gut, worming its icy tendrils all the way up and into all his extremities and then flooded his throbbing head till his head went fuzzy.

The dull brown button eyes of the tiny ragged red lion stared at him like a dull accusation; the hauntingly familiar eyes flooded his mind with memories of all the times his six year old self couldn't function without it clutched in his elbow. Through a haze of blurred memory he recalled the morning he had woken up to see a doleful mother explaining that his lion, 'Leo's', head had 'accidently' been ripped off from his body.

But now the junction between the lion's shoulder and neck clearly showed immaculate stiches that proved someone had taken the time out to reattach the head to the body. Which was ironic because Sasuke felt like his own head was floating miles above his own body.

"Sasuke?" the voice was dim, like it had been coming from eons away.

It was like an impenetrable helmet had descended around Sasuke's head. He couldn't fully process anything out of the narrow tunnel of vision that was now completely focused on the small object in his shaking and bloodless hand.

"Sasuke..." the voiced inquired softly. The Uchiha dimly was aware of a body kneeling at his bedside and a rough hand resting on his cheek, "...Sasuke...you're crying."

Oh; so that's what the horrible stinging behind his eyes was. It was only when he raised his head and salty tears dripped off his cheeks and wet his hands that he fully realized what was happening. The fortified mental columns that he carefully built up to barricade and bolster the torrent of volatile emotions he had pent up for years had just completely shattered deep inside him.

And he couldn't deal with it.

Shoving the blond out of his way, Sasuke, through a haze of scalding tears, bolted mindlessly through the door blindly seeking Kakashi's office. Through the dark and empty corridors in a blind haze he ran, not caring a damn about any patrolling guards, entered the building and furtively sought out the grey nameplate with Kakashi's name.

He found the metal door and banged desperately on it; each blow increasing in force until he had no strength left and sank to the floor, knuckles bloodied and body extremely weak. Every reserve of strength he thought he had had just disappeared out of his being like thin smoke.

Knees up to his chest he buried his feverish head between his legs, his bloodied hand clutching at his hair and the other gripping death out of the toy.

This went against everything he thought he knew of intrinsic reactions; every study he had read depicted a scene like this in storybook fashion: it should have been that upon seeing the toy, he should've been slightly taken aback, then outraged and then worried; not one of them had said shit about panicking, getting intensely freaked out, and eventually succumbing to emotional exhaustion to the point of a mental breakdown and crying.

Crying... something he hadn't done since he was nine. Something he didn't even knew he could even conjure anymore, because everything emotion that could've procured that kind of impulse in him had shrivelled to death a long time ago.

And now; a simple childhood remnant was causing an avalanche of memories to bombard his mind; memories of his mothers' demure laugh, his brother's rare smiles, his father's dementia. Sasuke was so completely derailed he couldn't focus on anything outside of the hollow pain he was feeling: he remember anything about the plan; Orochimaru, Pein, the team, the escape, the problems, the constant worrying about Itachi, the paranoia, his poisoning, the stress, the mess with Sakura, the conflicting emotions for Gaara, the chaos with Neji. None of it.

The only thing he felt was... numb.

Half way out of his mind he brokenly whispered; "...I can't do this... can't... I can't..."

(*)(*)(*)

****Iwagakure Police Station 10:45 p.m.****

The incessant beep made Kakashi sit up groggily. Red was flashing over the computer screen with a bold red script blaring at him; 'PARTIAL MATCH'.

Kakashi looked up and went pale; his eyes had to be playing a trick on him. Three critical minutiae on the partial print had been matched. But...but...this made no damn sense, whatsoever!

Itachi Uchiha's, androgynous, red-eyed face was centred in the middle of the screen.

(*)(*)(*)

Kakashi stared at the screen until his eyes burned. This was incomprehensible. The only comfort was that the 'PARTIAL MATCH' was still blinking on the screen; 'partial' clearly meaning that it wasn't Itachi. Who then had the m- then it hit; like a thunderbolt to overactive senses.

It was the DNA; DNA, specific to a family...DNA which caused blood type, hair fibres and fingerprints; (1) DNA didn't lie.

Kakashi tried to reason it out, he went so far as to assume that someone had gotten a mould of Itachi's fingerprint and modified it; but reason laughed at him and was forced to accept what was in front of him. There was no way around it; it was staring him in the face. Kakashi's teeth grit, hard.

The killer was an Uchiha.

Calming his panicked reaction the silver haired man breathed deep and then pulled up a different search engine. The engine was an addendum to a historical site where he could access the government's detailed records of the countries ancient and prominent clans.

When it came up Kakashi typed in the name 'Uchiha'. He was fifty percent sure this was utterly futile; he knew damn well that aside from Sasuke and his brother there were no more Uchihas alive. But he had learned one thing a very hard way; when your back is up to a wall you don't leave any stone unturned.

The list came up, a highly decorated page depicting the Uchiha clan linage from centuries ago. Kakashi skimmed down the list from the first Uchiha to Satsuna; his name branded with an underlined and extremely bold addendum for the Uchiha massacre. The psychoanalyst's eyes narrowed at the names adjacent to Satsuna; his brothers: Baru, Obito, and Madara.

Baru; died by hemlock poison, Obito by strangulation, Madara by a stabbing...wait... Kakashi scrolled down; each of the two above was noted to have had official burials, but there was none for Madara.

Strange; why wasn't Madara legally declared dead?

Almost seventy years ago the youngest, the nine year old brother had seemed to drop off the comprehensive face of the earth. There were no records, no mentions, no references, oblique or otherwise of Madara anywhere.

No...

Oh no...

The wedding picture popped up in his mind with glaring lights.

Oh hell no! That couldn't be. Why would the man stay underground all this time just to resurrect and torture one of the last reaming members of his family?

"...Motherfucker." Kakashi whispered.

(*)(*)(*)

**** 2. a.m. dark corridor; Teacher's building. ****

"Sasuke?" a voice materialized out of the darkness.

The raven blankly looked up from his spot on the floor, blood shot eyes barely deciphering the tall form of Kakashi in the doorway.

"Kakashi." His utterly ragged and hoarse voice groaned.

"My god Uchiha," Kakashi said dropping something to the floor and kneeling beside the despondent raven, "what happened?"

In a voiceless answer Sasuke held up the toy to the man. Ignoring the fur shoved into his face, Kakashi looped an arm under the stiff and cramped Uchiha's body and heaved him up.

Opening the door one-handed Kakashi half lifted the stiff raven into the dark room and settled him carefully on the nearest couch. He then disappeared for a moment and came back with a small glass he settled beside the teen.

Sasuke made no move until the man literally wrapped his pale hand around the glass and ordered, "Drink."

Obediently he took a sip and spluttered; pale hand wiping at his mouth, "Scotch, Kakashi?"

"Would you have preferred some methamphetamine?" the shrink asked sarcastically.

"Point taken." Sasuke said nursing the alcohol.

Hatake took a seat across from him and tenderly asked, "Mind telling me what happened?"

The glass met the table and Sasuke's hands shot up to his temples. "Kakashi..." he said simply, "I can't...I can't do this anymore; I just can't!"

Kakashi tread on this like he was walking on glass. "You can't what, Sasuke?"

It was dark but Kakashi could plainly see the pain in the Uchiha's eyes, "I can't do this...I can't do me anymore..." he stuttered, "I've tried... god knows I've tried.. I can't keep up the façade...the promise I made..."

"What promise Sasuke?"

"When I was a child I promised my mother to always be strong," Sasuke said placing the cold glass on his forehead and whispered, "I promised her to never break down...to never lose it...to be prefect."

Kakashi nodded soberly; he wouldn't have expected anything else from an Uchiha. "Might I ask what prodded," he waved to Sasuke's person, "...all this?"

The small furry toy met the silver haired man's chest, "That...I got it today...in a chest clearly Uchiha made; from my...our...friend. That was a toy I played with when I was six, Kakashi...six."

The man went stiff. This paired with the information he had just gleaned made perfect sense. He just furiously wished with everything in him, it hadn't.

This was too much... too damn much, way too fast and way to fucking surreal. Getting up he rummaged around a cupboard and pulled out a blanket and a small pillow and handed them to the silent raven.

Sasuke was still talking; "I've had a stalker since I was a child, Kakashi...a child." The last part came out slightly hysteric. "What the hell is going on?"

"Sasuke..." he started off as patiently as possible, "I know this is difficult but ...try and get some rest...we need to talk tomorrow."

And they did but there was no way to approach it now with Sasuke in this current mind frame.

"You might have to drug me for that." was the raven's bland reply.

"No... I don't." Kakashi assured with a soft hand on Sasuke's shoulder, "...trust me...it'll come... good night."

(*)(*)(*)

Morning rays prodded at Sasuke's closed eyes. Reaching up despondently he tugged the blanket off him and stretched. A quick glance into the closet mirror revealed still slightly red eyes, matted bed head hair, pillow creases in his skin and dull eyes.

Ignoring the dismal reflection he turned to search for Kakashi in the exact time as the man was walking through the door.

"You're up."

"...aren't you going to ask me about the breakdown?" he returned blankly ignoring the greeting.

"No." Kakashi returned amicably.

He snorted clearly disbelieving, "Really?"

The man perched on the couch's arm: "Sasuke, I've realized a long time ago that there are certain places in your mind that even I can't reach... the only person who can do that is you...or someone like you..."

"You wouldn't da-"

"Actually," Naruto voice said from the open doorway, "...he did."

Kakashi silently left. Sasuke's eyelids closed.

"Don't you dare touch me." Sasuke hissed eyes still closed but completely aware of the presence beside him.

"I wasn't going to." Naruto said leaning on the wall, "I'm not that suicidal...but will you at least tell me why you ran out of the room last night like a bat out of hell."

By degrees Sasuke opened his dark eyes he knew were pale red and still stinging. Looking up stonily to the blond he reached out and clutched onto the small toy perched on the table between them and held out it up to the blond.

Something in his mind fought tooth and nail about what he was going to do but then he mercilessly, with a swift slash, decapitated and silenced the annoying voice in the back of his mind.

Naruto's waiting face was leniently impassive.

"I've had this from I was a baby." He started saying dully, "...growing up it I carried it everywhere...I couldn't even sleep without it. Then one morning my mother told me it was destroyed... I didn't eat for a week."

He chuckled darkly, "I was in intensive care for almost a month... suicidal at seven year's old...guess I should've seen that as the first warning sign... " he trailed off.

"Of what?" the blond was maintaining his distance and for some reason that got Sasuke annoyed.

"Are you going to sit the hell down dobe, or are you going to stand there till Armageddon?" he sighed massaging his forehead, "Just please sit...I'm not some kind of skittish colt who's going to kick you if you startle me."

Naruto complied, sitting a few feet away from him, "You didn't answer my question teme...what sign?"

A mirthless smile crossed Sasuke's face, "I had suicidal tendencies till I was thirteen... I got very close to it when I was twelve but I couldn't go through with it... but that certainly didn't stop me from trying to destroy myself in other ways."

Silence for a minute. A black brow quirked at the blonde's blank unimpressed face.

"What?" Naruto rebuffed left eye squinting, "...Oh right...you were expecting me to go all wide eyed and shocked; correct?"

"That's the usual reaction, yes." Sasuke answered blankly, dark head tilting to the right.

Naruto snorted , "Sasuke, I've tried to kill myself five times, but somehow my stupid body didn't allow it...it's like I have this...thing...inside me that clings to life even when everything else gives up...like it's holding out for something."

"Lucky you." Sasuke sighed eyes trained tiredly on the ceiling, "...I wish I had that."

"There's more... something else...isn't there?"

Black eyebrow quirked, "You're not...expecting me to tell you all of it ... are you?"

"Why not?" the Uzumaki said shrugging, "... I told you my demons...turnabout is fair play, right?"

Again, everything ingrained sense in the youngest Uchiha dissented against divulging a damn thing but he knew that not word he would say would ever leave the Uzumaki's lips, so after a piercing look into blue eyes he started telling Naruto things; things about his family, about his childhood and about the fire that burned his home. He skipped over the parts about his father's abuse and the about staying with the Hyuuga's, about falling for Neji, about trusting him and then being betrayed. His mother was never mentioned at all.

Half way through his steady confession Sasuke couldn't fully process what exactly the feeling in his chest was that gently prodded him to keep revealing snippets of his past but kept at it; the hum of his voice strangely soothing.

Time slipped away as he told the blonde about using drugs and how Itachi had found him shivering on the apartment carpet with the blunt of marijuana still clutched in his hand, he told him about the aborted suicide attempt; about planning to drink vodka and eight ounces of bleach, he even told him about the hours when he would stare at fire like he was hypnotised.

Even though he had told the majority of his story there were still parts he left out and they both knew it.

After a stretch of silence the blond spoke up:

"So you are human after all...Sasuke..." Naruto said looking him straight in the eyes, "...you may hold more secrets than what exactly happened at the Kennedy Assassination and that's fine...I won't judge you...just ...just don't punk out."

Black eyes snapped to blue ones, "...don't...punk...out?"

"Yeah..." Naruto said seriously, "...do you not see the shit you pull in here?"

"Please..." he snorted, "...enlighten me."

Naruto never got the chance for in that moment the door opened to reveal a grimacing Kakashi holding a large stack of papers and placed them before the raven.

"Sasuke..." Kakashi said spearing Naruto a quick glance, "I've discovered something that is guaranteed to shock you...just please don't freak out..."

The Uchiha went tense, "What is it?"

"There is a high possibility you do have some living family," Kakashi blurted, "...specifically a grand-uncle."

(*)(*)(*)

****Tsunade's Office, 10: 45 a.m****

Tsunade stared at the thinning blood cells in the enhanced photo and sighed. What in god's name was causing the rapid degeneration of the cells in Sasuke's body?

Her office looked like a deranged tornado had just blown through it; open books and medical tomes were piled on her desk like mini mountains; scribbled over and dog-eared papers were scattered on about every surface possible. Huge files of mysterious unsolved cases were gaping at her from her opened file cabinet drawers and three empty rum flasks were starting at her perched precariously on the adjacent chair.

She had been on this for five days and still nothing, no breakthrough, no clues, no hints, absolutely nothing.

Running fingers through her hair to massage he scalp and try to deter the pulsing migraine she looked despondently at her book shelf that looked like it had been raped.

"Damn it Uchiha." She cursed.

A knock on the door, "Come!" she ordered.

Shizune came in balancing a cup of tea in one hand and an opened book in the other. Settling the cup on a rare empty space on the table the medical aid said:

"Tsunade-san, I really think you should look at this." The cropped dark haired woman said, "Following up on the specimen you showed me of the Uchiha's blood cells, I remembered a case they asked a colleague of mine to solve..."

"Get on with it Shinuze." Tsunade said testily, complete ignoring any liquid that wasn't spiked with alcohol.

"Yes ma'am." She said turning the book towards the head doctor. "He was given a case that involved an esoteric poison that was bio-degenerative. The man who had contracted the virus was an experimental botanist working at an herb farm that supplied medical plants to the pharmaceutical companies."

Tsunade sat up to listen, "...Apparently, the pollen of a certain plant named 'Foxglove,'; 'digitalis purpurea' they were experimenting with to develop an anti-toxin, got into his lungs causing protein deficiency, pulmonary infection, pneumonia, inflammation and hives."

The blond doctor went still; the dots connecting slowly at first then rapidly. She whispered, eyes wide; "...it's a degenerative phytotoxin."

(*)(*)(*)

(1) 'DNA which caused blood type, hair fibres and fingerprints' : yeah...more bullshit... DNA doesn't actually do any of that...well...okay...sure it does do the basic building blocks of your makeup but fingerprints are unique, so there is no exact match.

... again...nothing much to say...nothing much at all...

Still want those 50 guys...

B.P.